Neil Patrick Harris: 'Hedwig' Is Slowly Crushing Me Physically

By
On Top Magazine Staff
Published:
July 17, 2014

Out actor Neil Patrick Harris says he's
having a blast playing Hedwig in the Broadway production of Hedwig
and the Angry Inch.

Hedwig took
home four Tony Awards last month, including Best Revival of a Musical
and Best Actor in a Musical for Harris.

Hedwig,
which had a long off-Broadway run at New York City's Jane Street
Theater and was later turned into a movie in 2001 starring John
Cameron Mitchell in the title role, tells the story of a transgender
rock musician's search for “my other half.”

Andrew Rannells
(Book of Mormon, Girls) will take over the role starting
August 20.

Harris discussed
the role's physical demands during an appearance on Good Morning
America.

“It's like a
crazy rock and roll, tour de force-y kind of role and I've been
having a blast doing it,” Harris said. “It's killing me. It's
slowly crushing me physically but that's why we act.”

“Yeah, it is,
because when you're first rehearsing it you're learning about it.
And then when you're first performing it, you're sort of
shell-shocked, and so you have to sort of maneuver your way through
it. And yet you're also trying to be Iggy Pop and sort of be
spontaneous punk, and with that comes, you know, flailing and doing
it differently every night and different improvisation things that
happen.” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit
our video library for more videos.)